PATRICK SEITZ: THE CALL TO ARMS INTERVIEW
Every year, scores of anime and manga fans flood out to several conventions, some in their best character costumes and some just there to have a good time! Fans flock to these conventions to discuss anime, buy trinkets and most importantly, meet the wonderful staff and cast who help make the animated series' we all know and love happen!
 |
The usual convention circuit for the year 2012 began with a wonderfully fun convention called "Taiyou-con" in Mesa Arizona, and Call To Arms' very own Demon Rin was in attendence! Among the spectacular staff and cast in attendence was the great Mr. Patrick Seitz. An accomplished voice actor, the good Mr. Seitz began his voice acting career working at New Generation Pictures, the company who very shortly became the studio to take on the task of adapting the Hellsing television series for the English market. Mr. Seitz was chosen for the role of Luke Valentine and not only later reprised his role for the Hellsing OVA series, but has acted in countless other roles in other anime series' such as as Franky in One Piece, Germany in Hetalia, and Sloth in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. He eventually expanded his role behind the scenes to become an accomplished script writer and ADR director for countless titles as well! Even working some of that new magic in the world of Hellsing!
We won't give any more away however, for Mr. Seitz was kind enough to sit down with us for Call To Arms' very first voice actor interview! Read on to laugh, cry, and maybe even learn a thing or two!
[NOTE: Information pertaining to the later story up through volume 9 of the manga and OVA series will be discussed including some light spoilers. Please be aware of this reading ahead.]
THE INTERVIEW
Demon Rin: How did you get the role [Of Luke]?
Patrick Seitz: I got the role back in- Geez, when was the first one out? 2001?!
DR: Yeah, 2001.
PS: Yeah, uh, how DID I get the role? That's amazing that I got any roles! New Gen [Pictures] Which had done Hellsing, and is still doing Hellsing, Was the first company I worked for and I was lucky enough to get with them on only like the second or third thing they'd worked on which was Amazing Nurse Nanako, which was a couple of titles before Hellsing. So I was on their radar, thankfully because I certainly wasn't on anyone else's radar. So I guess the wisdom of Jonathan [Klein] and Taliesin [Jaffe] working in tandem decided to give me a shot. Like, "He's a one-off character, can't do too much damage, he dies quickly so lets see what happens!" So I lucked out! I DEFINITELY lucked out! With how much of a noob I was at the time, I think that was just the perfect bite-sized character chunk for me. Anything more than that and I suppose I would have started to bleed out my ears!
 |
DR: So, did you have to try out for the role at all or did they just sort of give it to you?
PS: I remember doing a really horrible audition for Alucard, I don't remember if I also read for Luke or if they were like "Oh no no no, that won't do, let's put you over here". I don't remember frankly, it's all a- Grr, I don't know, it's a good question Taliesin would know that. Taliesin knows everything.
DR: That's actually rather funny, I do remember hearing either Crispin [Freeman] or Taliesin tell an anecdote about having to rerecord some of your lines because you sounded too close to Crispin, is that correct?
PS: Yes... Yes. After we recorded the Luke stuff, Taliesin went back and listened to the scene and went "Oh no... no no no that's- it's- they sound, OK that's not gonna work". so I think I went back and ended up poshing him up a bit, went a little more Mid-Atlantic and going a little higher in my range just to differentiate.
DR: Well he is a little bit of an "I am holier than thou" Douche bag.
PS: [Laughs] It worked, I mean it was character appropriate. But it just tickled me that, y'know. It happens sometimes, where like, oh it's me and Travis [Willingham] talking back and forth in a scene and it sounds like the same person. But you run into that less than you'd imagine for you know how few people comparatively do this sort of thing. You think you'd be running into that roadblock all the time. [Laughs]
 |
DR: One thing I've always wondered, seriously, is that whenever somebody fights Alucard, it is a Bloody gruesome, horrible death. What was it like having to feign those noises and screams?
PS: That was tough! Especially with that being so early in my career. I'd not done a lot of stuff that- Well, I hadn't done anything THAT strenuous! I mean, it's tough because you're getting your leg shot of and that has to hurt, but you still have to leave yourself somewhere to go for when you, you know, you get DEVOURED! And the other leg gets shot off before that, so it's- It was a lot of screaming that day! Yeah, I feel bad because the other antagonists obviously aren't watching the previous episodes or else they would know that the life-cycle is: You Show up - you talk some smack - it looks like maybe you're going to be the one, to finally get him - and then he's gonna "Reagh" with the hands, and his arm with the dog teeth, and the eyes, and the wailing babies. And then you're gonna die! But they never seem... to learn that. AS the viewer, you're like "Oh, he's gonna do it!" And then he does it, and then they're dead.
 |
DR: Yeah, for some reason Alucard always does give you that moment where you think you're winning!
PS: Yeah, he's kind of a Dick like that.
DR: Was it difficult going from the TV series, then years go by, then the OVA series?
PS: Surprisingly enough, yes. I went into that Ultimate [OVA] session thinking it was going to be like shooting fish in a barrel. It's Luke Valentine! I did it before, I'll do it again! Easy-peasy! But I had done so much in the mean time, you know when I did the original I was such a noob that I didn't have any of that "Self-limiting actor internal monologue" going on, and I didn't realize how much of a different a head space I was in until I went in to record for Ultimate to the point where the first couple of lines weren't sounding right, and I didn't know what was up and Taliesin and I both knew I wasn't quite nailing it, and then we got to a line where he's being a jerk to Jan. And then Finally he's like "OK there you go, you're back in character" and so we went back and recorded the first couple of lines again and it was fine. But I thought it was going to be like falling off a log, and it wasn't necessarily which was odd.
DR: How much do you know about the Later story?
PS: I know what happens through episode 8.
DR: So you don't know what's going to happen in episode 9?
PS: Correct
DR: Do you care about spoilers too terribly much?
PS: ... [Sharp inhale] yyyyyyes, yes. Only because it takes so long to come out that I will have to live with this knowledge and not actually see it in action. I'm trying to avoid the spoilers if possible.
 |
DR: OK, we were only intended to discuss one actual spoiler.
PS: I do know that Luke pop's up again and he's like "What the Hell?!" so if it's that spoiler, I knew about that one.
DR: Yeah, I actually have [with me] the volume of the manga where he pops up.
PS: Nice
DR: The most recent trailer just came out and Luke was in the trailer, only for about two seconds but he is in there.
PS: but does he talk?
DR: Not in the trailer!
PS: [Growls comically]
DR: In the episode he will, he does have dialogue here.
PS: OK Good! [Laughs] I was like "he can be in that episode wall-to-wall, but if he doesn't open his mouth, Daddy Don't get paid!"
DR: You're going to have a few lines, and then a lot of [Feigns injury noises]
PS: Story of my life.
DR: How do you feel about that? You WILL Get to come back as Luke!
PS: I'm glad! He's fun. Any extra time I can spend with him where he's not dead and silent is- I'm down with that. Dead and talking is a marked improvement.
 |
DR: You have commented in the past about telling people about being one of the Valentine Bros., and coming against moments where they ask "Were you the one who swears a lot?"
PS: Every time. "Yeah I'm one of the Valentine Brothers!" "Were you the one who swears all the time?!" "Uh, no the other one" "Uh... oh" I mean, some people still make that token effort to be like "Uh, he's cool too... he's got like... nice hair... and a very white suit... that's neat.. um... gotta go!" It's to the point where I... expect it, so when it happens I'm not like [Cries] 'cuz I'm like "yeah, I know Jan's cool". I know, I know. I still remember from the first one, some of the dialog where it's like "Time to go, you demonic Vampire Bitches!" And it's just like the best line ever. I realize Luke's dialog can't compete with "Demonic Vampire Bitches". It's in a realm unto itself.
DR: Then looking at the fact that the author thought "I'm going to bring back one of the Valentine Brothers!" and he chose Luke, what do you think about that?
PS: Well I think it's probably a pacing issue, because he realizes that "If I bring back Jan", the action has to grind to a halt while he goes into this horrible profanity-laced tirade before he gets re-absorbed. I think he realized for pacing issues, "If I bring back Luke", he can have a couple lines and then be like Blagh! But "If I bring back Jan", it's gonna be like a whole soliloquy right in the middle of everything. It's gonna be like "Alright bitches, stop what you're doing because I got something to say!" and then he's just gonna go off, and it's gonna be the George Carlin routine of the seven words you can't say for like 20 minutes. So I think strategically that was the right choice.
 |
DR: Also logically, since he's the only one Alucard ate, so he's the only one who could be regurgitated.
PS: True because Jan burned himself [sic] to a crisp, so canonically that wouldn't even be cool. But I could see him pulling that out, he's like "Oh I didn't mention I could do that? Anyone who's ever died, ever? [Evil Laugh]"
DR: Since you were so cool to speak with us now, Is there anything you would like to plug that's Hellsing related or otherwise.
PS: Well, Hellsing related I am glad to say I got a chance to adapt the script for two of the upcoming OVA episodes!
DR: Do you recall which ones?!
PS: It was... I believe 6 and 7 I think. I'm pretty sure it was 6 and 7.
 |
DR: So you did Pip...
PS: Yes. I had a lot of fun with that. I had a lot of fun with Pip, I had a lot of fun with Pip's grandfather in the flashback. When Pip's all like "The kids are making fun of me!" and he's all like "[French accent] let me tell you why they are making fun of you! We are killers, all of us!" Thankfully I'm not be voicing him, so it won't sound bad like that. But no, I had a lot of fun, a lot of fun with those episodes.
DR: When the show went on hiatus back in 2004, we started doing text translations of the episodes because a number of people on our forums get the Region 2 [Japanese] DVDs and Blu- rays. So we started doing text translations. That was fun to do as well! We didn't want it to sound regurgitated, we wanted it to sound natural.
PS: Right, Yeah!
DR: So we would use dialog like "For a few Francs, We will gladly go to kill". He didn't actually use the word "Francs" in Japanese But it sounded better than just a "few bucks".
PS: Right, yeah, yeah.
 |
DR: Since you helped adapt the scripts, I don't know if you'd know this, but we have a very big Alucard Fangirl who would like to know, in Episode 8 when Alucard goes full-Dracula mode, will he be giving him a Romanian Accent?
PS: Yes! Yes, I believe they confirmed that at the Anime-Vegas Panel yeah.
DR: Nice!
PS: Yeah, I'm sure neither Taliesin nor Crispin would let that moment to go un-accented! I am POSITIVE of this!
DR: Again, in our text translations we made sure Alucard was Always talking very Princely. During that but you can't do an accent on paper or it looks hokey.
PS: Yeah, you're like "I guess I'm gonna do it in... Comic Sans!" Or it's on Papyrus!
[At this point we paused to check the time to make sure Mr. Seitz still had time to answer a few more questions]
 |
DR: Adapting those two episodes! Episode 7 has probably the most heart-wrenching scene in Hellsing! I think it's the only time I actually cried reading it! How hard was that to get everything through?
PS: [Sighs excitedly] Oh, it was awesome! I really appreciate getting moments like that as a scripted actor, because that's what I connect best with. Also because the character herself and especially the Japanese Seiyuu [Japanese voice actor] for Zorin... Is Amazing! Just Amazing! Every time she spoke, I just wanted to listen to her! I make no pretensions of speaking Japanese, I realize I'm doing the typical "Weeaboo" thing where it's like "Oh I really like the voice!" but it's like the way she delivered things... this woman does not give a FUCK... and it's AWESOME! She will kill you as easily as look at you! [Happy Sigh]
DR: Seriously, Youko Soumi! And when Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood came out and Youko Soumi [was playing] Ollivier Armstrong.
PS: Oh! Is that her?!
DR: Yeah, that's her!
PS: Oh that makes total sense! Yeah, of course it is! Yeah!
DR: I was just "She'd play a good Ollivier!" so you're absolutely right.
PS: Uh-huh!
 |
DR: Also, Fumiko Orikasa, Seras' Voice actress, The pained wails coming out of that girl... All the dialog between the two of them... The "I finally got that kiss line"... how was it working on that? That particular scene?
PS: It was like...[Feigns attempting not to cry] ah... he's dying... and she's... hn... yeah... it got a little- It was pretty dusty in the room right then! Yeah... And I loved the things I got to have her say when she finally gets mad! Grinds her head against the wall, like an ill- tempered eraser! Yeah.. yeah... it's- I think that was one of the clips they played at Anime- Vegas. I forget the exact wording, but she's grinding her head against the wall and just running her face into a paste! Something to the effect of, y'know "How does it feel to have somebody fuck with YOUR head you bitch!" and shes just screaming it as she takes Zorin down to about half-head! Yeah.
DR: I loved how the OVA animated that, because when I read the manga I just thought "How are they gonna DO This?!" And then... they did it!
PS: Yep! The toughest thing logistically about those episodes was keeping track of the 8- bajillion mercenaries. Because there were times where you would be looking at them and you're like "I don't know if that's 'Mercenary C' again... or... if they drew another one because he's not QUITE the way he looked before... but I don't know if it's just them... putting the bandage on the wrong side of the head... y'know what I mean? You start thinking Am I... Did they just get sloppy?... or is it the same guy? or is it a different guy? Because he looks like that other guy?" There ended up being... My girlfriend just made this huge list with pictures and time codes of all of the mercenaries because it was the only way to keep them straight! That we then handed over to Taliesin and we were like "Go with God dude! Gooooood luck!"
 |
DR: I could only keep track of the three main ones... like the one with the beanie... the one with the blonde hair, with the goggles up on his head...
PS: That dude was hilarious because he was all like "We're gonna die! We're all gonna die! Oh my god I'm so scared!" and then at the end of the episode, he's like "I want to recite some poetry I wrote..." You're like [Laughs] "wait what?! When... did [Laughs]... this happen?!" You were busy being afraid and now you're all like "I've got a couple of rhyming quatrains I'd like to uh... share with you all... As she zips off into the sky" You're like "This is... a little out of character... but OK!" Yeah, the blonde dude with the goggles was... a trip... And then the guy who's like "That's my daughter but it's not my daughter, this isn't real" And Zorin's like "Ahahaha!" [Cutting sound]... Yeah...
DR: Speaking of which, at the very end when they actually salute Seras, when they say "Sir, Yes Sir!" do they still say "Sir"? It wasn't changed to "Ma'am" or something?
PS: I don't believe so, I don't remember off the top of my head but I don't THINK I'd have them do that.
DR: Because it's commonly believed that at that moment, they recognize that Pip is in there now, So they're saying "Sir, Yes Sir" to him.
PS: I believe so. Don't quote me on it, but I believe so.
DR: We're just about finished here, to end do you have anything else you'd like to comment on? Any stories from doing the work on these?
PS: [Contemplates] Oh! One last thing! So the flashback... very traumatic flashback of Seras' mother... I made them say some VERY inappropriate things... that then, when I went in to record a couple incidentals for Taliesin he made me... the dude...
 |
DR: Which one?
PS: The Dude... you know the one... the one that gets forked... and then forks! So to speak...
DR: [Laughing hard]
PS: yeah... yeah... it's good that I don't teach high-school anymore... because if I still did, I think those couple of lines would probably be the end of THAT particular career... yes!
DR: Oh... That's amazing!...
PS: Yes!
DR: I'm so glad I asked that now!
PS: Yes!
DR: Thank you so very much! This was Amazing! Thank you so much for your time!
PS: [Very Enthusiastic] You're welcome!